Cold War Arms Race

2351 WordsNov 27th, 201210 Pages

Drew Valerio
Prof. McNally
History 268
September 6, 2012
Introduction
The Cold war dated from 1947-1991. It was characterized by both political and military superiority between United States, which was backed by its NATO allies, and Soviet Union that led the communist side. The cold war was mainly started after the success of the alliance that was formed against Nazi Germany. This competition supremacy on nuclear warfare attracted other countries that also started making nuclear weapons due to the tension that existed in the world. Both sides directed huge sums of money to their military budgets with each side trying to outdo the other.
History of the cold war
The relation’s gap between United States and Soviet Union were widened by…show more content…

This was after a public outcry that the country must rapidly build up its block of ICBM’s. The United States then went ahead to develop U-2 spy planes, which played a great role in helping United States spy the Soviet Union weapons and facilities. This build up forced USSR to try and catch up with United States development at all costs despite its weakening economy. One of the following developments was the announcement by United States that it possessed submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the third and most effective delivery system developed. The USSR maintained silence until 1968 when they too started using the new technology. This new technology came up with various new challenges because the country had very few harbours that could service its nuclear submarines (Phillips, 2003).
In 1968, the Soviet Union came up with a new development- the building of antiballistic missiles defence systems. These were to be used for nuclear, chemical, biological or even conventional warheads in the homeland defence of such a strike because they were designed to counter ICBM’s. As a method to counter this development, United States came up with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRV’s) which improved the chances of avoiding detection by ABM systems. In addition to this, United States also developed its own IBM in order to match that of Soviet Union.
During this period that countries were developing their own nuclear weapons, countries were

The decade preceding World War II is most notably remembered for the Great Depression, a world wide economic period of decline on a scale never before seen. Obviously it affected every country differently and as a result the international political system was multi-polar and divided among two groups, the Axis and the Allies. The destruction of World War II left only two countries economically viable enough to be considered a world power, the United States and the Soviet Union. This unprecedented…

Origins of the Cold War
Revisionist historians tend to regard the outbreak of the "Cold War" as a result of American hostility or, at least , diplomatic incompetence, while the more traditional view lays the responsibility squarely at the feet of the Soviet Union. Assess the validity of each view.
The Cold War,said to have lasted from the end of World War II to the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991, was one of the most significant political events of the 20th century. For nearly…

The Space Race during the Cold War
During the Cold War, the United States and Russia had a severe space race between one another. Every time one country would be a step ahead of the other, and somehow one of the countries would catch up to the more advanced country at the time. During the early years of the space race, success was measured by what nation did what first: To the alarm of the United States, each of the early adventures were achieved by the Soviet Union. And all of those events triggered…

The Cold War
Hawks and Doves
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
Hawks:
A term used to describe those with a relatively aggressive…

countless wars have emerged out from the face of the Earth. Bickering tribes fought, clans crushed their rivals, great kingdoms rose against each other, and nations invaded one another. While some of the blood spilled are proven to be inevitable, many of the wars were completely unnecessary. They were just the product of mutual hatred from both sides and the greed for land and power. The world has suffered enough from the two great conflicts of the past, WWI and WWII, and the scars of the world wars are…

The Cold War was one of the most important political confrontations of the twentieth century, with the potential to wreak enormous damage to the world and its inhabitants. It began during the last stages of World War II when the alliances were crumbling and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War was the 20th century's version of great power rivalry (except they were superpowers with the ability to annihilate each other with nuclear weapons at a moments notice.)
From the…

A war does not necessarily require a physical weapon to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the cold war between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between…

Race for Nuclear Arms and Power
Harry Truman (1884-1972) was the most influential person in the race for the super bomb. As President Roosevelt’s Vice President, he knew nothing about the development of the atomic bomb. But within months of assuming the office of President of the United States on April 12, 1945, he became the first and only American leader to authorize the use of atomic weapons against an enemy target. Truman’s era only marked the beginning of the race for nuclear weapons. The…

COLD War and the Arms Race
When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two…

The Effects of the Cold War on the Americas
For nearly fifty years, the world lived in fear as two super-power nations quietly battled for power, respect and popularity of their respective political views. The Cold War arose out of the ashes of the failed alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union in World War II. Many different factors could be linked to the actual cause of the Cold War, however many agree that the political future of Eastern Europe was the major spark that ignited…